Supreme Court Decision

June30,2013

by Father Jack Shrum

Dear friends,

In light of the Supreme Court decision and the holiday we celebrate this week I wanted to share with you the statement which the U.S. Catholic Bishops made through their representatives Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco.

“Today is a tragic day for marriage and our nation. The Supreme Court has dealt a profound injustice to the American people by striking down in part the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The Court got it wrong. The federal government ought to respect the truth that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, even where states fail to do so. The preservation of liberty and justice requires that all laws, federal and state, respect the truth, including the truth about marriage. It is also unfortunate that the Court did not take the opportunity to uphold California’s Proposition 8 but instead decided not to rule on the matter. The common good of all, especially our children, depends upon a society that strives to uphold the truth of marriage. Now is the time to redouble our efforts in witness to this truth. These decisions are part of a public debate of great consequence. The future of marriage and the well-being of our society hang in the balance.

Marriage is the only institution that brings together a man and a woman for life, providing any child who comes from their union with the secure foundation of a mother and a father.

Our culture has taken for granted for far too long what human nature, experience, common sense, and God’s wise design all confirm: the difference between a man and a woman matters, and the difference between a mom and a dad matters. While the culture has failed in many ways to be marriage-strengthening, this is no reason to give up. Now is the time to strengthen marriage, not redefine it.

When Jesus taught about the meaning of marriage – the lifelong, exclusive union of husband and wife – he pointed back to “the beginning” of God’s creation of the human person as male and female (see Matthew 19). In the face of the customs and laws of his time, Jesus taught an unpopular truth that everyone could understand. The truth of marriage endures, and we will continue to boldly proclaim it with confidence and charity.

Now that the Supreme Court has issued its decisions, with renewed purpose we call upon all of our leaders and the people of this good nation to stand steadfastly together in promoting and defending the unique meaning of marriage: one man, one woman, for life. We also ask for prayers as the Court’s decisions are reviewed and their implications further clarified.” (Usccb.org, 26 June 2013)

Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore in his homily at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption (our nation’s first cathedral) to kick off the Fortnight for Freedom (June 21-July 4) quoted Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI,

“The state may not impose religion, but must guarantee religious freedom and harmony between the followers of different religions.” And he added, “For her part, the Church, as the social expression of the Christian faith, has a proper independence and is structured on the basis of her faith as a community which the state must recognize. The two spheres are distinct yet always interrelated” (Deus Caritas Est, 28).

Yet our government is taking from what belongs to God by state-sponsored attempts to force the Church to compromise her own teachings as the price to be paid for serving the wider community. Caesar is taking from what belongs to God in promoting the view that it is a form of bigotry to hold, as the Church does, that marriage is between one man and one woman — and — by passing anti-discrimination laws aimed at this venerable teaching of the Church…

Again, to quote the wise teachings of Pope Benedict: “Denying the right to profess one’s religion in public and the right to bring the truths of faith to bear upon public life has negative consequences for true development” (Caritas in Veritate, 56).

For by imperiling religious freedom, all human rights are put at risk. After all, our deepest and most cherished rights are linked: the right to life, to religious freedom, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. And these rights are not granted to us by the state, but by the Creator — as the Declaration of Independence robustly proclaims.

Dear borthers and sisters, I ask you to join me in prayer and fasting in these days as we prepare to celebrate the independence of our great nation founded on these clearly enunciated principles which are inherent to who we are men and women created in the image and likeness of God. Wednesday is a traditional fast day and I ask you to join me in fasting as we pray for our country in union with our bishops for religious liberty, especially for the respect of marriage in light of the Supreme Court decision, and prepare to celebrate Independence Day on Thurs. July 4. –Fr. Jack D. Shrum

Visit MarriageUniqueForAReason.org for more resources on the authentic meaning of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. For resources for engaged couples and married couples, visit ForYourMarriage.org and PorTuMatrimonio.org.